Athlone 1-3 Bohemians

BOHEMIANS ARE BACK in the top half of the Airtricity League table but they’ll know tonight that they were in a real battle in every sense of the word after they had to dig deep and ride their luck against Athlone Town at Lissywoollen.

This was Athlone’s sixth defeat on the spin and they remain rooted to the bottom of the table with no points to their name yet, but there was a lot more for manager Mick Cooke to like about tonight’s performance, even if he’ll continue to suffer palpitations every time a good ball is sent into his penalty area until things change a lot defensively.

Bohemians made a strong start and rattled the Athlone crossbar with an 18-yard drive from Kevin Devaney after just four minutes but the only highlights in the rest of the first half were the chances that were created by set plays, almost exclusively by Bohemians. These including Daniel Byrne’s 43rd minute opener, created by a Darragh Reynor corner kick. That was the sixth corner of the half for Bohemians, five of them taken from the right wing, and each time the Athlone defence struggled to handle the pace and accuracy of Reynor’s delivery.

Athlone were dealt a further blow in injury time before the break when captain Aidan Collins was helped off the field after suffering a recurrence of the arm injury that kept him out of their 3-2 defeat to Drogheda United on Friday. His absence from the centre of the defence was even more conspicuous 10 minutes into the second half when his playing partner Derek Prendergast slid in to contest possession against Stephen Traynor and arrived moments too late, with the studs of one foot showing. Kevin O’Regan issued a straight red card to the former Drogheda and Bray Wanderers player and most home supporters in the crowd braced themselves for an onslaught.

Instead, the Town rallied and within two minutes they were level after putting together the best move of the match. A stunning crossfield pass from Seán Brennan was well won by Jason Marks on the right win and he slipped the ball into the path of Graham Rusk, who in turn took one step and picked out the bottom left corner of the net from just inside the area.

Athlone continued to press but lady luck deserted them at a crucial moment as they conceded a remarkable own goal just four minutes later. A throw in from Derek Pender fell to James O’Brien at the corner of his own penalty area and somehow his attempted clearance skewed off the outside of his boot, spun up into the air and looped over Paul Skinner and into the net.

Athlone kept pushing forward in search of an equaliser but inevitably they left huge gaps for Bohemians to attack on the break and they conceded plenty of good chances. Jason Byrne missed a sitter when he was set up by Stephen Beattie at the edge of the six-yard box but the experienced poacher made up for it in the 84th minute when he slid in to touch the ball home from two yards out, taking advantage of another excellent Reynor delivery and a neat flick on from substitute Daniel Corcoran.

ATHLONE TOWN: Paul Skinner; Kealon Dillon, Aidan Collins (Jason Marks 45+1), Derek Prendergast, Sean Byrne; Alan Byrne; Sean Brennan, James O’Brien, Mark Hughes, Graham Rusk; Philip Gorman.

Subs not used: Craig Sexton, Conor McMahon, Ian Sweeney, Barry Clancy, Declan Brennan.

BOHEMIANS: Lee Murphy; Derek Pender, Roberto Lopes, Aidan Price, Darragh Reynor; Paddy Kavanagh, Daniel Byrne, Craig Walsh, Kevin Devaney; Stephen Traynor, Jason Byrne.

Subs not used: Daniel Corcoran, Philip McCabe, Karl Moore, Keith Buckley, Ryan McEvoy, Steven Beattie, Jake Hyland

Referee: Kevin O’Regan

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